


Calling

by Insomniac_with_dreams



Series: Beskar and Kyber [9]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Din Djarin & Cara Dune are Best Friends, Fluff, Jedi Luke Skywalker, Luke also knows little about the force, M/M, POV Luke Skywalker, Powerful Luke Skywalker, Protective Din Djarin, Self Conscious Din Djarin, The Force, these tags are getting harder and harder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:54:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29149287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomniac_with_dreams/pseuds/Insomniac_with_dreams
Summary: It’s a quiet night. Damp and cold from the rain that had battered the planet throughout the day. Bugs hum softly meshing cleanly with the soft breathing of the woman on the other side of the shelter. It’s shattered by the boom of a ship coming out of hyperspace and coming into the atmosphere. Din is up before Luke can react, knife pulled stepping in front of Luke and Grogu, shielding them from the entrance.  Luke stands stepping around Din waving him down.“It’s okay. Leia is here.”
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Series: Beskar and Kyber [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065137
Comments: 36
Kudos: 360





	Calling

**Author's Note:**

> The beautiful little poem you are about to read before this installment was written by SleepingReader in my comments and I needed everyone to read how lovely they are.
> 
> Thank you for your words.

Close your eyes, cast out your mind  
Children to train on planets to find  
He will follow, have no fear  
The path for the two of you, the way is clear

If only I could say the same  
About me, who needs to remain  
Call me elsewhere, I am unfound  
My life and love to this planet bound

The remnants of what used to be  
In waking dreams are haunting me  
My name, my mind knows hardly. In  
Your tongue you may call me Guardian

~SleepingReader

~*~*~*~*~

Laughter, and fear. Joy and pain. They’re carved into the empty indent on the pedestal. Luke stares at it. Lays his flesh hand against it, letting himself feel it. It's as ancient as the force itself. A holocron had rested in the indent. A holocron that contained a list of children. A holocron that is long gone and taken by who, he does not know. 

“Is this my calling Obi-Wan?” the temple swallows his words, stealing them from the air. Everything stays as perfectly still as it had been when he had entered. “Obi-Wan?”

“I don’t think he can hear you child.”

Luke turns towards the voice. A woman in soft robes not unlike his own stands by the entrance. She smiles at him, walking towards the pedestal and running her translucent fingers along the worn stone.

“Can’t hear me?” Luke asks, she shakes her head.

“This place is strange. The force is more connected to life here.”

“I can see you though.” Luke says, stepping forwards. He doesn’t recognize her, even through all of his years of meeting past Jedi. 

“I am connected to this planet, I doubt if you were to call for me anywhere else I could not come to you.”

“Who are you?”

She smiles a little wistfully, “I don’t really have a name anymore. You can call me The Guardian though.”

Luke points to the empty space on the pedestal, his mind still full of the sound of children. “Were you guarding that?”

“Yes. I was first the guardian of this temple, and then when the holocron came to be I protected the Jedi master. I was unable to save either.”

“I can...hear children.” Luke murmurs. The Guardian nods, gliding away from the pedestal and settling on the floor with her legs crossed under her. She motions for him to follow. 

“Those are only the remnants of what used to be.” 

Luke bows his head towards the floor, eyes squeezed shut. “Are they all gone?”

Gentle dark eyes meet his, “One way or another.” The Guard folds her hands over her lap analyzing him. Luke tries not to shrink beneath her powerful gaze. 

“I’ve...learned to listen to the force when it calls to me.” Luke hedges, he glances at her out of the corner of his eye. “And I have found that normally that call leads me to something, but all of these children are gone. Yet I feel a pull.”

“Hmm, yes.” She sits straighter pressing her fingers together. “Close your eyes, listen. Tell me what you hear.”

Luke sits straight to, balancing the tips of his fingers on his knees. He sinks into the calm mindscape that his meditation pressing him into. The temple melds into warmth and light and the soft smells of age. He appreciates the slice before grasping the faint pull on the force that flows past him like a stream. Voices swirl around him. There are people who he has just become accustomed to hearing when he mediates. Obi-Wan, his father, Yoda. They linger always at the back of Luke’s mind. Repeating words they’ve said to him when they are not there with him, or retelling stories from a time he wasn’t alive. They flow past him, taking up their spots as permanent features near silent. Leia’s voice drifts in and out of his consciousness. Her feelings drag behind her, mucking up the clear connection between thought and feeling. She’s prodding back at him, searching for him. Not desperately though, gently reminders that she is coming for him. It’s what he needs and he pushes her gently to rest with his masters. 

He lets out a quiet little gasp as he feels Din. Panic and resignation and fear. Not so much his voice, ever is that quiet, and his thoughts are even dirtier than Leia's, his heart pounding hard in his ears. Luke can feel it. It covers his mind and trembles through the ground . _I’m coming back!_ He wants to scream, but Din is so closed off from the force that there is no way he can hear Luke’s thoughts. The sunshine that had radiated from Din had all but fled, leaving behind a dark night layered in fog. Luke reaches for Grogu, who lingers not far from Din. He burns bright with the force and his voice is loud. He’s thinking of the temple with wonder, and thinking of his father with worry. Luke reassures and promises, as best he can. 

“The children, Luke.” The Guardian's voice cuts cleaning through his wandering mind, snipping the useless connections cleanly and storing them far away. He cracks his eyes open.

“I don’t want to connect myself to children who are gone.” Luke chokes out. The ambient feeling of the temple feels wrong after the turmoil of the people outside of it. 

“You asked if this was your calling, I believe it is. Yes those children are gone, killed or turned away from the light, but there are more are there not? Clear your mind of distraction.”

Luke takes another deep breath. _I’ll be back Din. Just give me time._

Water laps at his feet the smell and taste of salt hang thick around him. He doesn’t know where he is, water stretches out in front of him like the sands of Tatooine. He turns in a full circle. Black, sharp, sand digs into his feet, he can feel it but his feet are not bare. Large mountains rise out of the black earth, covered in fog. They tower over him and echo the sound of the sea back at him. Luke breaths deep, grounding himself. Holding out his flesh hand, pushing his will out into the force. His power is buffeted back at him circling around him in a quiet song that mirrored Grogu’s little signature. It’s quieter though, subdued and brought in hesitancy. Luke ties it to himself, latches onto it with a promise of return. He lets his hand drop, lets the force drag him away from the salt scented air. 

Luke travels through the force to many places. Planets lashed with rain or wind. Burning planets covered in streams of lava. Soft planets, brushed in grass and temperate weather.He listens and reaches and grasps, and sometimes they slip away from him. Lost to him when something distracts them or him. Some planets ring with the dull pound of death and the heavy clank of chains. He recognizes some planets too, and he berates himself for not being in tune enough with the force to have not felt them. 

Coming away from the pull of the force and feeling the temple floor beneath him leaves him winded. He crumpled from his state of rigid meditation. Back bowing until he can rest his forehead against the cool tile. Chest rising and falling heavily hos breaths shaking. His robes feels heavy and restricting, and if he felt like he could move his hands he would shed himself of the weight.

“What did you see?” The Guardian's voice sounds far away, like her presence is no longer at his side. Luke cannot raise his head or peel open his eyelids to check. Running his dry tongue over dry lips is hard enough as it is.

“I-I saw many planets.”

The Guardian hums, “The force is strong with you Luke Skywalker.”

Luke steadies himself, breaths deep, pushing himself back up on shaking arms. He turns to look at her again, facing her keen eye. “Yes.”

“You are to be charged with training the next Jedi,” She stands his movements mimicking that of wind kicking up dirt into the air. He follows far less gracefully, leaning against the pedestal as they come to rest. 

“Yes, but at times I do not feel I am ready. I am no teacher.”

The Guardian’s lips tilt slightly down, eyes focused on a point high above Luke’s shoulder.

“To be a teacher is to learn as your student does.” She finally says, looking back at him. It feels like a chasm separates them. Her eyes shadowed by something that only she could see. 

“What is it?” Luke questions. Eyes flickering The Guardian’s lips part.

“You fear failure.” 

Luke laughs, “Who doesn’t? If I fail then the entire galaxy is at risk. It’s not an option for me.”

She frowns deeply at him, an eyebrow lifted in disapproval. “Were your masters before you free of failure?”

“Of course not, but that doesn’t make me fear it less. The Jedi Order was full of failings and the greatest enemy to the galaxy was born from it. How am I to be sure if I fail the same thing won’t happen?”

“Your fear of failure will lead you down a path you never wanted to traverse.” Her warning had sealed something that had been building in the back of Luke’s mind for a long time. “No one can ever be sure of anything Luke.” eyes wandering again The Guardian traces the empty indention. “Darkness creeps at the edge of the galaxy. It moves swiftly.”

Luke clenches his jaw, “Yes. I have felt the unease.” she purses her lips.

“Do you know when the force is balanced?”

“When there is peace?” Confused as to why she would be asking him Luke answers with more hesitancy then he wanted to.

“Perhaps, but what is peace?”

“I don’t understand.” Luke says feeling desperate. The Guardian holds out a hand and Luke hesitates before taking it. 

It’s dark. The light that spilled into the temple was gone and the familiar warmth sapped away. It’s not cold though, the air around Luke tingles on his skin, warm and cold. 

“Where are we?” his voice gets eaten by the dark.

“Nowhere in particular.” The Guardian no longer glows soft blue. Her skin looks as if she were still alive, dark and rich with life. She smiles at Luke, her eyes looking alive as well. Glancing over her shoulder she smiles wider. “Perhaps that is peace?”

Luke turns around. His homestead on Tatooine sits in it’s blazing glory under double suns. He can hear his aunt calling for him, down from the confines of the house. It sends an unpleasant pleasant sensation through him. The bitter sadness from the death of the people who raised him and the memories made in the hot suns battling against each other. 

“No? Perhaps that?” She points in a different direction. The woods of Endor, Luke can smell the sharp scent of the trees. The celebrations that went on under the stars a victory won. A bond fire spits sparks into the air, his fathers resting place. The same bittersweet feelings converge in his mind. “Is that peace for you?”

“I suppose it is. Both of them, but I still don’t understand.”

“This,” Spreading her hands Luke’s life, the moments of fear and anger and sadness blending with those of love and life and joy, “This is not just peace. This is balance.Would you be where you are today if you aunt and uncle had not raised you as they had? Would you be where you are now if you did not burn your father’s body in a final farewell? Or when you failed to heed your masters warning and went to save those you love?Without dark there can not be light. Without pain there can be no joy. That is balance.”

“So there must be light and there must be dark.”

The Guardian nods, the images around them fade. Luke watches them go. “Curious.” The Guardian murmurs. Luke turns away from the fading image of himself hanging upside down and desperate after the duel with Vader. He swallows thickly when he sees what has captured The Guardian’s attention. Din stands alone in the dark, silver beskar glinting dully. He turns towards Luke, his helmet covers his face. Holding out his hand he waits. Luke steps forwards then back looking at The Guardian.

“Please, don’t make me choose.” 

“Choose what?”

The laugh that falls from Luke’s lips is exhausted, broken at the edges as he gazes back at the Mandalorian. “I-I love him.” he whispers it, half afraid that admitting it out loud will tear Din from him forever. “I don’t think I can choose between him and,” he peters off noticing The Guardian’s expression.

“There is no other path Luke.”

“What?” he looks around, she’s right. Din is the only thing around them, no path leads to the children that he needs to find, or to his family that might fall apart if he leaves for said quest. Just Din, waiting patiently,hand still outstretched.

“There’s no other path,” Luke murmurs. “What does that mean?”

“It means that he will follow you, and you will lead to where you need to go.” her smile looks a little wistful, “Something tells me he’s been waiting long enough for you. Do not fear failure Luke, do not fear _balance_. The force is your tool and your heart is your compass, use both.”

Luke feels giggy. He’s ready to take Din’s hand, ready to join him. He bows in reverence to the woman, “I will follow this calling. Thank you for your wisdom.”

She nods, “Perhaps you can lay my temple to rest with the promise of a child's safety. Return Luke, one day, now go.”

He offers another bow and a promise and then he’s walking towards Din, then running towards him, grabbing his hand.

The beskar spear is standing straight in the soft earth atop the hill glinting in the starlight. Luke looks back at the temple as he pulls it from the ground. It’s not Din, and the hand he had grasped had lasted but a mere second before he was breathing the nighttime air of Bogano. Lifting the spear he smiles weary, tiredness weighing down his limbs. The smell of burning wood draws him down the mountain. He sees the fire and the glint from Din’s armor and a part of him wants to run again, he doesn’t though. Stepping into the ring of firelight Din looks up at him and opens his arms. The relief of Din’s arms around him, pulls the exhaustion to the surface. He rests completely against Din. Din kisses him when his words grow worried, and he promises in words that make Luke’s stomach feel warm, that Din will follow him.

As he lets himself fall asleep, pressed against Din’s breastplate he decides that maybe he isn’t done running either. He hasn’t completely grown out of the bored farm boy desperate to get off of Tatooine and this new promise of adventure sings inside of him.

Din is gone when he wakes. The fire has been built up again, and Grogu sits by it and he turns to babble at Luke sensing he’s awake. Luke smiles at him, sitting up from the cool ground and joining the youngling at the side of the fire. He wraps his cloak around him.

“Good morning little one. Where is your father?” Luke asks, Grogu’s little words flow through Luke’s mind and he comes to the conclusion of food. Luke chuckles, looking out over the lighting sky. “He should have taken me with him.” 

_Stubborn_ , Grogu says. Luke agrees quietly, heart warming as he thinks about the Mandalorian. They wait together, Grogu rambling about nothing really and Luke attempting to respond as the child deserves. They’ve started a conversation about what Luke can only decide is a toy Grogu used to have, when the Mandalorian comes out of the trees. He’s flanked by Cara who has a large creature over her shoulder. It's head lolling. Grogu cheers in delight reaching out to Din as he kneels down by them. Luke smiles up at him, it’s soft and Din leans forwards to gently knock their foreheads together. Luke sighs at the contact mourning the loss of Din as he pulls away. 

“You should have woken me up,” Luke says, swathing his cloak tighter around himself. Din shrugs, he produces a small fish from a satchel slung across his chest offering it to Grogu.

“Sorry bud I couldn’t find any frogs, and you were tired, there is nothing wrong with extra sleep.”

Luke leans against his shoulder, Grogu has taken the fish and Luke sees his old master far too clearly as he eats it. He looks a way, “You’re a little bit of a hypocrite Djarin.”

Cara snorts from across the fire. She’s skinning and cleaning the animal with a skill that boasts many hunts. Din looks a little grumpy at the creature, even with his helmet on Luke can tell, crossing his arms over his chest. Cara tosses the hide away.

“Ignore him,” She laughs, “He’s just upset because I got the big kill and he went fishing for tadpoles.”

Din crosses his arms, “I’m not upset.”

“You're upset.” Cara teases. Din sighs reaching across the fire to help Cara spigot the meat. She slaps his hand away, “Nope. My kill, I get to cook it how I want.”

Luke lays a hand against Din’s side where it’s free of hard beskar, laughing as Din sits back with an affronted huff. Grogu copies the movement, plopping onto the ground and letting out a babbling sigh.

“Your fish are very appreciated,” Luke says. Din shakes his head, wrapping an arm around Luke’s waist to pull him closer. Cara lets out a low whistle and Luke feels heat crawl up his face. Din goes still, his helmet protecting him from betraying what emotion was on his face. Luke finds it unfair again and he lets himself pout a little bit about it reaching up to push gently at the rim of Din’s helmet.

“I’m proud of you Din. I didn’t think you would be able to get your head out of your ass,” Cara snickers. She sticks the meat into the fire and Din lets out another long sigh.

“I’m not completely hopeless.”

“Mando I was on Sorgan.”

“What happened on Sorgan?” Luke asks, looking between Din and Cara. Din groans loudly rubbing his free hand on his knee. 

“Oh Mando just shot himself spectacularly in the foot.”

“Kriffing hell Cara, please stop.” Din mutters, if anything it makes Cara’s grin turn more devilish. 

“What was it you told Omera?” Cara deepens her voice in a hilarious mockery of Din’s baritone, “You fight pretty.”

“There isn’t anything wrong with that!” Din defends. Cara is laughing.

“Yeah but we weren’t even fighting at the time. She was brushing her hair.”

“What did you want me to say?!”

Cara throws a pebble at Din, laughing as he bats it away, “Oh I don’t know. Maybe, _you’re pretty?_ Or, _thank you for letting me stay here. I think you’re wonderful._ ”

Din buries his head against Luke’s shoulder, pinching at his side as he laughs along with Cara. 

“And then, _then_ , when she asked him to stay he was going to leave Grogu with her and move on.”

Luke rests his head against Din’s helmet, trailing his lips along the top of the visor. “Leave Grogu? You would never.”

“He liked Sorgan. I thought he’d be happy if I let him stay there, but it turns out he wasn't safe. I’ve learned better now.”

Luke smiles, “Apparently.”

The other two Mandalorians join them when the smell of the cooking meat reaches their camp on the other side of the clearing. Bo-Katan stares at Luke and Din’s close proximity. Luke ignored her to the best of his ability, eating his mean in near science. Cara had long since stopped trying to start conversations. Din sat tense against Luke, his helmet sitting firmly in place. Luke wants to take them away to somewhere quiet and insists Din eat, but he doesn't push it occupying himself with feeding Grogu tiny bites of the meat. 

“How far off do you think the New Republic is?” Cara asks. The meal is finished and they cast the bones of the creature into the flames. 

“I’m not sure. It may be wise to create a more permanent camp.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Din says. He stands, gently pushing Luke to support his own weight. “We need to build a shelter here in sight of the cruiser.”

They begin construction not long after their meal. The force and Luke’s lightsaber makes it easy to harvest sturdy boughs and greenery to fill gaps. Din builds the structure, tying the beams together with plant material and rope alike. Grogu feels in slates in the wood alongside the Mandalorians and Cara babbling all the way. They clear a small area of ground far from the tumbling waves of grass and the damp earth to put a more permanent fire pit. Luke kneels on the ground to make tallies tha follow the movement of the sun. They finish the entire camp when the sun has baked the planet beneath them. Luke sheds his outer clothing letting Grogu use them as a makeshift bed. He crashes pretty fast, Din carries him into the shelter depositing him into the little nest and turning to Luke.

“I, um, I would like to go and bathe.”

Luke blinks, “Okay?”

Din fidgets, “I don’t know where everyone is.”

Luke blinks again, lost as to what Din needs.

“Could you um,” Din mutters a quiet curse and clears his throat. “Could you please tell them to stay at camp if you see them?”

Luke smiles, “Yeah. Of course. Don’t worry I’ll tell them.”

Din nods jerkily, looks between Grogu and the entrance before getting up and walking out. Luke smiles after him, leaning back on his elbows next to the bundle that is Grogu.

“I think i fall for your dad more and more every time he does something like that.” Luke admits, still smiling. Grogu coos.

When he sees the woman return he keeps them at camp until Din gets back.

It’s been nearly two weeks as far as Luke can tell. His tallies cover the ground around the camp. Two weeks of hunting and gathering, hiding from the thunder storms that roll in. Din stands out in them. Head tilted up towards the sky and the cracking lighting. The rain pings off of his armor in a musical cacophony. Two weeks of quiet conversations and quiet touches. Two weeks of learning who Din Djarin is. Luke keeps look out for him when he goes to bathe, and accompanies him when it’s time to feed the men in the brig on the ship. Two weeks Luke thinks, scratching another line into the dirt as the sun breaks over the mesas, he wonders how many more there will be.Cara has grown restless. Walking long and far out into the planet, watching the skies and scowling at the fire at night when they eat. Bo-Katan and Koska are on and off the ship more than any of them, all but refusing help with repairs. Luke leaves them for the most part, making sure they return to camp safely. 

He’s lying close to Din in their corner of the shelter, Grogu between them. He runs his hands through the ends of Din’s hair where they peek out from the bottom of his helmet. He hasn’t been sleeping and he doesn’t think Luke can tell. He can. Worry spills off of Din constantly and his nights are plagued with terror that he pushes down savagely during the day. Luke has no way to help him, so he holds him. Reassures him that his baby is safe, that he’s safe. He tells stories and says the rhyming words of a lullaby Leia had shared from Alderaan, anything to bring Din respite.

It’s a quiet night. Damp and cold from the rain that had battered the planet throughout the day. Bugs hum softly meshing cleanly with the soft breathing of the woman on the other side of the shelter. It’s shattered by the boom of a ship coming out of hyperspace and coming into the atmosphere. Din is up before Luke can react, knife pulled stepping in front of Luke and Grogu, shielding them from the entrance. Luke stands stepping around Din waving him down. 

“It’s okay. Leia is here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this with my firm belief that Luke Saw Good in Fucking DARTH VADER Skywalker, would never NEVER attack his nephew in his sleep over a feeling of darkness stirring in him.
> 
> I like writing the force how I interpret it and The Guardian was not a symbol of either good or bad dark or light but of balance. I feel like the Jedi Order skewed what balance really is. The absence of either light or dark will never be balance. Now whether the extreme of these two are taken away and only the simple ideas of good and bad are left is another idea entirely.
> 
> I also wanted to say that after this installment the story is going to become one multichaptered fic. Not for any particular reason besides I want to and I suck at coming up with titles. So this is our last installment. The New Republic has arrived and Din is going to have to face the hellscape of being surrounded by people again. Poor man. 
> 
> I also wanted to say that the idea of the holocron being stolen from the temple was not my idea. Its from Fallen Order.
> 
> Thank you for all of the lovely support and wonder comments. I keep saying I'll respond and I keep not doing it which I apologize for. Please know I love each and everyone of them!
> 
> Thank you again for the support and love!!~Insomniac 
> 
> Din is self conscious, because he hasn't taken his clothing off in front of someone in a long time. No other reason. (I'm projecting onto him hardcore)


End file.
